User's Guide To Voice Messaging
Overview
The Voice Messaging program is a useful community service. Callers may listen to a variety of announcements. The announcements that the caller hears are, for the most part, the decision of the caller. These announcements can range from upcoming social events to the address and phone numbers of local restaurants.
You may be wondering how a program that announces what amounts to Public Service Announcements can make you money. The answer to that question can be simply answered: sell the Announcement Spots. You can sell Announcements in the same way a radio station sells commercial spots on the air. In a resort community, for instance, hotels and restaurants are willing to pay for any type of advertising.
Another option could be selling Branches Rights to people. This way, the owner of the Branch does the work of selling and recording announcements. All you need to do then is to maintain the System Tree.
This program can also be provided as an extension of a Voice Mail system.
You, the Center Owner, record the Announcement (or Announcements) you want callers to hear, such as community events, or some similar announcement. Other creative Center Owners announce things like obituaries or the time of the high tides (a must for surfers in California). Although these examples may not work in your area, there are a multitude of announcement possibilities.
It is important that you be aware that the Voice Messaging program is a two-part program. This manual primarily deals with the first part of the program, the System Editor. This is the part of the program that allows you to design, build, and edit the program.
The second part of the program is the part of the program that callers actually deal with - the 'running' (working) program. While the System Editor allows you to access Voice Messaging for editing and design, the Business Manager program allows you to run the Voice Messaging program. For instructions on running your Voice Messaging program, refer to the User's Guide To Business Manager manual.
The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint you with the concepts governing the workings of your Voice Messaging system, including:
Terms
Listed here are some terms you need to know, as they appear in this chapter:
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Announcement |
The informative speech recorded by the System Administrator, typically a listing of upcoming social events or schedules for those social events. |
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Caller |
Someone calling into the system, who may or may not be a client. They can call in to hear the Announcements, or to change their Announcements. |
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Commit |
In the context of this program, this is a finalizing procedure. To 'Commit' is to finalize and save changes to the system's structure. |
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Icon |
An Icon is a graphic representation of a program in Windows. The icon is typically composed of a small picture along with the name of the program below it. |
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On-Line Help |
On-Line means that help is accessible at anytime in the program, unless you're already inside the Help function itself. |
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Program |
In this manual, we are referring to Voice Messaging. |
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Speech |
A verbal message, recorded on a tree object in this program. A Speech can be a Prompt, or an Announcement. |
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System |
Your computer, while running the Voice Messaging application. It's a neat little technical term to impress your clients, and it's also more convenient than saying 'Your computer, while running the Voice Messaging application.' |
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System Administrator |
You, the Center Owner. You call the shots, decide how much to charge advertisers, decide when the system is operating, etc. This program is your domain. Your word is law here. |
You must first get your Voice Messaging program up and running, and advertise your service to the public. Then you can contact the merchants or groups in your area that might be interested in announcements on your Voice Messaging program.
The program includes some example speeches for community Announcements. We'll talk more about these later.
While your system is up and running, callers access your system by dialing the number of the phone connected to your computer. There are three types of typical calls into your Voice Messaging system:
• A call to record an Announcement.
• A call from the System Administrator to record an Announcement, modify system, etc.
Open the Business Manager program.
In Windows 95
• Move your cursor up to Programs on the menu. Programs highlights and another menu appears.
• Move your cursor to ECS Business Applications on the second menu. ECS Business Applications highlights, and a third menu appears.
• Move your cursor to Business Manager on the third menu and click once. Business Manager opens and the title screen appears as shown in the next figure.
In Windows 3.1
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• Double click on the appropriate icon in the ECS Business Applications program group. Business Manager opens and the title screen appears as shown in the next figure. |
With Business Manager open, you can open any of the control menus or dialog boxes by clicking on the appropriate menu heading in the menu bar.
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• Click on the Applications menu heading, and the Application Configuration box appears. Select the Voice Messaging option by clicking it. A blue bar appears on this option. |
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• Now click the Edit button, or double click the Voice Messaging option. Either way, you enter the system editor for the Voice Messaging program. |
The Voice Messaging system editor window appears as shown in Figure 1:
Figure 1 - The Voice Messaging system editor window
• To get to the main screen of the editor, click on the File menu heading on the menu bar. Next, click the Tree menu option. The Tree Edit screen appears as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2 - The Tree Edit screen
The Tree Edit Screen displays a 'system tree'. This is a graphical representation of the system. The tree that appears now is an example tree, which you will use to practice the skills you learn in this manual. This is a fully functional system, meaning that you could run the Voice Messaging system right now using Business Manager. You or other callers could call into the system and move through it. Calling into your own system gives you a good idea of how the system works. Eventually, you will either modify this tree to customize it for your use, or you will make your own system tree.
When you finish editing the system tree, you can exit the system editor so you can do other things. It is a simple procedure to exit the Voice Messaging system editor, and you can use the following procedure to do so:
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You can also use the a+o key combination to exit the program. You can also use a+F to get to the File menu, and press the X key. |
• While viewing the system tree, click the File menu heading located on the Menu bar. The File menu appears. • Click the Exit menu option. The editor closes, and you return to the Business Manager window. • You can also exit by double clicking the control box in the upper left corner of the Voice Messaging window. |
If you made changes to the system tree but did not commit these changes, the following advisory message appears:
Figure 3 - The Commit Changes Advisory box
• Clicking the No button allows you to exit the system editor without committing changes to the system tree. This means that all of the changes you made during the editing session are abandoned, and the system tree remains as it did before you entered the system editor.
• Clicking the Cancel button allows you to return to the system tree without committing any changes. This means that you stay in the system editor, and can continue your editing session.
If you encounter a problem at any time during the normal operation of your program, all you need to do is ask for Help. The program includes an On-Line Help function to answer questions that you might have concerning Voice Messaging (On-Line means that it is accessible from anywhere in the program, unless you're already inside the Help function itself). The Help function contains the same basic information that you can find in this manual.
Starting Help
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• To start the Help function, click on the Help button. Using the button saves you from having to select help using the Help menu. • You can also activate Help by using the Help menu heading from the Menu Bar. A 'Menu Heading' is the word you find in the white bar along the top of your program window. • The Help function is also accessible from anywhere in the program by pressing the lkey. |
Once you activate Help, you can select the topic you want help with from the contents table. Clicking the Contents... option opens the first Help Window, The Help Contents Screen. This screen displays the most general of the Section Headings. These Headings relate directly to the Chapter Headings in this manual.
Exiting Help
To exit Help, all you have to do is close the Help Window. There are three ways you can do this:
2. Select the Close option from the Window Control menu
3. Select the Exit option of the File menu in the Help Window.
